Education reform

A while ago I wrote about teacher/student burnout and the cuts to education in California.
Something connected happened in a second grade drama class I was teaching in Berkeley yesterday. We were playing a warm up game called "Brain P.E." in which kids have 10-20 seconds to make little lists, as a precursor to using spontaneous thinking for improvisation. When I asked for a list of 3 things they'd like to change about the world, one boy wrote, "No School," as well as "no violence." A few hours later, I read five brilliant essays by Mike Rose in Truth Dig online magazine (recommended!), titled "Why Send Kids to School?" His comments feel important, because with a new national policy under consideration for schools, I want to know how it will affect my students.

Remember, I also noted that teachers have been pegged as the problem in the high stakes education game. Recent studies reported that the schools that were "successful" when No Child Left Behind started are still successful, and many of those that were "failing" in the past are still not doing well, in spite of massive restructuring. Could it be that teachers are being asked to fix society's and the system's ills? Well, here's what Rose says:

Rose: "When children are raised in communities where economic opportunity has dramatically narrowed, where the future is bleak, their perception of and engagement with school will be negatively affected.... the business community has not thought deeply about the profound effect economic despair can have on school achievement.... (nor have people considered) the negative influence of commercially driven verbal and imagistic messages that surround our young people.. that work against the very qualities of mind the community says it wants schools to foster... our young people grow up on an economy of glitz and thunder. The ads that shape their needs and interests champion appearance over substance, power over thought... highlight glamour and poise over knowledge and blur fact as simulation."

Me: But why do we need school for our children? Why not agree with my second grader, who finds school unnecessary? Can we all home school? Can everyone study online and settle for occasional live contact with a teacher?

Rose: "The answer given for decades... is that education prepares the young for the world of work and enables the nation to maintain global pre-eminence... but the tendency in current social policy is toward magic bullet solutions that are simplified responses to complex problems... the current philosophy of education is an economic one: the primary goal of school is to create efficient workers."

Me: Some truth here. For example, when I asked my high school students why they should finish school and go to college, the unanimous answer was, "to get a good job and make money." But somehow this idea (they've learned it from adults) results in school being perceived as a kind of holding pen before being released into an automatic High Paying Job, or the NFL, NBA, WNBA, etc. There's something missing. What about curiosity, the pure fun of looking up a new word to see what it means, or being able to imagine solutions and try them out? And how would an economic purpose for going to school relate to the experience my Chorus students just had, doing a solo song recital on Wednesday? Words escape me to describe the joy of hearing each individual voice, touching lyrics, beautiful melodies emerge, the sound so true and lovely, in spite of nerves and the stage of technique each singer showed. Can going to school to get a job result in the human experience of shedding tears in the presence of beauty and truth, or the excitement, pride, and opening of hearts of those singers?

Rose. "In the current talk about school reform, there is one phrase you will hear in every proposal: 21st century skills. These include the ability to use a range of electronic technologies ... to think critically and creatively and evaluate the product of one's thinking. The ability to communicate effectively and collaborate with others. .. what's new about these skills?.. Some of these you'll find in Aristotle. But there are topics you won't find in these lists: aesthetics, intellectual play, imagination, the pleasure of a subject, wonder. The focus of the 21st century skills lists is utility and workplace productivity..... But, the one thing that's become clear to me after 40 years of teaching is the multiple purposes and meanings that education can have. It provides intellectual stimulation.... protected social setting.... connections to adults... our world gets bigger... a place where we define who we are."

Me: Amen to Mr. Rose's conclusions. There are so many reasons for our young people to go to school, not the least learning to appreciate the rich, diverse cultures on our planet and our common humanity. Not to mention, building the values and character it takes to become a responsible, thoughtful, caring adult.